The Right to Protest
by Ray by Another Name
Summary: Coco meets Velvet at a protest after falling for her mother's guilt trip. Coco/Velvet Meet Cute. Written for Sapphic September Day 2! The prompt was Political AU. Slowly being expanded into a multichapter fic.
1. Chapter 1

Coco meets Velvet at a protest after falling for her mother's guilt trip.

Written for Sapphic September Day 2 - Political AU.

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**The Right to Protest  
**

Coco Adel was many things. Smart, beautiful, badass. The list went on. Nowhere on that list was 'supportive daughter,' or so her mother had whinged. So, she'd come to the damn fundraiser.

"Try not to scowl so much," her mother leaned over, smile wide across her face, to speak through clenched teeth.

On the other side of the table Coco's sister nearly choked on her champagne. She covered her laughter with a quick gasp and a fluttery hand gesture, "The Schnees are here!"

Lady Adel was gone in a second flat. Cerise winked at Coco. Coco continued to scowl, thoroughly. Her mother had not mentioned that this fundraiser was for Jacques Schnee's senatorial campaign.

"Why are you here?" Coco leaned over the table to whisper furiously at Cerise. She also took the opportunity to place her elbows on the table, because 'defiant' was high on her descriptor list.

Red curls were thrown delicately over her shoulder as Cerise shrugged, "Winter hates these things, but she had to come. I'm being a supportive friend." Coco raised a brow. Cerise grinned, wide and toothy, "I love watching her squirm under the limelight." Coco nodded, that, at least, sounded true.

"Still," Coco leaned back in her chair with a huff, "You hate Jacques." She crossed her arms, eyed the exits.

"Anyone that actually knows Jacques Schnee hates him, Coco," Cerise rolled her eyes and rested her chin on her hand. "But he's all about the money, and he throws it around. So people pretend."

Coco scowled at the room full of fakers, her mother included.

"I'm going outside, call me when it's time to leave." Coco stood up and marched away. Away from the table, the fundraiser, and her mother's stupid guilt trip.

There was a courtyard off the ballroom where the fundraiser was being held. Several smoozers were being grifted by some truly gorgeous women in skin tight dresses. Coco approved. And kept moving.

Coco found herself near the front of the building next. It was surrounded by protestors, mostly faunus. Knowing what she did about the work conditions in the SDC mines, and having overheard one of Jacques Schnee's more colorful rants about faunus, Coco approved of this also.

The protest was much more her style than fake flirting with some rich dude so she wove her way into the crowd to join the chants.

It was only twenty minutes before the water hoses were turned on them. Coco pulled her phone out to record the cops as they started dragging the faunus away. When one raised a baton over his head, Coco shouted, "Hey! Jerk!"

The cop's attention swiftly moved away from the woman with bunny ears to Coco and her phone.

"The Supreme Court says I have a right to film you," Coco said as the cop moved towards her, "And the constitution says I have a right to protest." She prattled off some local statutes from her sister's law books too, just to watch the cop's face color with fear.

With most of the protestors either running or arrested, Coco started circling the cop towards the woman with the ears. She was slowly picking herself up, a bruise was spreading over her cheek from where her face hit the curb.

"You good?" Coco asked the girl, eyes still trained on the cop. Coco was privileged, and she looked it. Chances were low he'd try anything. Her phone was still angled towards the arrests, for now.

"Good," the woman curled a hand around Coco's arm and started pulled her back. Coco went as directed, eyes and phone watching their retreat until they stopped at a cafe two blocks over.

Several other faunus had gathered there as well, with cuts and scrapes and bruises. Not nearly as many as had been at the protest though.

"Thanks for the assist," the woman said as Coco turned to face her. She was met with the softest smile she'd ever seen. If it were physically possible her hear would have skipped a beat. "I'm Velvet."

"Coco," she held out her hand to shake. The warmth that spread from her palm at the contact sent a literal shiver up her spine.

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Reviews Appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

Coco meets Velvet at a protest after falling for her mother's guilt trip.

Written for Sapphic September Day 2 - Political AU.

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**Chapter 2  
**

"Where did all these pamphlets come from?" Cara looked over her sister's bedroom with her head tilted to the side as she stood in the doorway. Her brown hair nearly tickled her shoulders when she did that. "Isn't the White Fang a hate group?"

Coco glared at her sister from her desk, "It's a faunus activist group, Caramella." Her back straightened at the use of her full name and Cara held up her hands in surrender. Coco turned back to her computer, "I'm doing some research."

"Does Mom know about this research?" Cara crossed her arms with a smirk when Coco rolled her shoulders. "She doesn't!" Coco huffed and started typing. Cara walked up behind her to see what exactly she was doing. There was a messenger app in the corner of her screen with another girl's smiling face watching from her little bubble.

"Did you want something, Cara?" Coco paused in her typing as Cara leaned over her shoulder. Her nose nearly touched the screen. "Or are you really this interested in the dismantling of faunus oppression?"

Cara hummed as her eyes scanned the article that Coco had up. "Dust is toxic?"

Coco sighed and propped herself up on the desk, "When it's breathed in during the mining process, yes."

"Huh," Cara moved out of Coco's space, "I didn't know that. What's it got to do with faunus oppression though?" Coco resisted rolling her eyes. "Oh! The Schnee Dust Company!" Cara actually giggled, "They're always getting fined for safety violations."

"And their workforce is almost entirely faunus," Coco tacked on as her sister moved back to flop on Coco's bed. Coco turned her chair to face her sister again, "I didn't realize how bad it was either, before I started looking."

A smirk spread over Cara's face, "And why did you start looking, Colette?"

Coco froze. Behind her, a message chimed from the messenger bubble in the corner of her screen. Cara's lips spread wide in a grin. "She's a faunus then, I assume?" Coco huffed, and nodded.

"Her name is Velvet, she's from Menagerie. She's here for school."

"Granny will love this!" Cara clapped her hands repeatedly as she bounced on the bed, "You know Mom's never been rebellious enough for her!" She quieted herself, "Tell me everything!"

There was much scowling and growling before Cara finally skipped from Coco's room and she could turn back to her computer without cursing.

Some of us are getting together for drinks tonight, at The Beacon. Want to come?

Coco smiled at the message and immediately started typing.

Could I bring Fox?

Velvet's response was instantaneous.

Of course! The more the merrier!  
Yatsu and Blake will both be there too, so it's probably a good idea for you to have some backup for the interrogation.

The stream of emojis at the end did nothing for the sudden pit in Coco's stomach. She took a steadying breath and thought of Velvet's blinding smile.

"Just drinks. With her best friends." Coco reminded herself as she stood to pick out some clothes. "That's no big deal. None at all." She sent Fox a quick voice message with the details. "Just drinks."

Dealing with her nosy little sister was suddenly looking good.

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Reviews Appreciated!


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